The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is searching for a Youth Program Coordinator to head its flagship youth engagement portfolio; one of the most substantive youth-facing roles currently open in the international environment and development sector. The position is structured as a 12-month remote consultancy, running from October 2026 to October 2027, with renewal subject to performance. Applications close on 7 July 2026.

This isn't a coordination role in the administrative sense. It's a strategic leadership position sitting at the centre of GLF's work with 1.3 million young people across 185 countries. If you've spent years building youth programmes and want to do it at genuine scale, this is worth a serious look.

About the Global Landscapes Forum

GLF is the world's largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use and ecosystem restoration. Founded in 2013 by CIFOR-ICRAF alongside core partners including UNEP and the World Bank, and backed by the governments of Germany, Canada, and Luxembourg as well as the Global Environment Facility, GLF operates with 35 Charter Members drawn from the world's leading environmental and development organisations. Its reach spans 25,000 organisations, over 100 governments, and a cumulative media audience exceeding four billion people.

The Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL) is GLF's dedicated youth engagement infrastructure. Its flagship operational programme is the Restoration Stewards; a yearly cohort of young ecosystem restoration leaders aged 18 to 35 who receive a €5,000 trust-based grant, structured mentorship, and global platform access. The incoming Youth Programme Coordinator will oversee the Restoration Stewards alongside the full spectrum of GLF's youth engagement workstreams.

The Role in Practice

The Youth Programme Coordinator leads the GLF Youth Programme team across five core workstreams: GLFx, Knowledge, Events, Learning, and Sustainable Finance. That breadth is deliberate. GLF's model treats youth not as a peripheral constituency to consult, but as co-producers of knowledge, co-designers of programming, and active participants in environmental governance.

Practically, this means the Coordinator shapes multi-year youth engagement strategy in collaboration with the YIL Steering Committee; builds and manages a diverse team of staff and consultants; designs and delivers youth-led sessions at GLF's international convenings, including COP side events and flagship GLF gatherings; and co-produces knowledge products alongside the GLF Knowledge team and Restoration Stewards cohort.

The Restoration Stewards programme sits at the heart of the role. Coordinating the fellowship requires maintaining a trust-based environment across a distributed cohort of fellows, mentors, community teams, and institutional stakeholders. As Eirini Sakellari, the outgoing Youth Programme Coordinator, put it: the Restoration Stewards programme is grounded in the principle that young people are already pushing the boundaries of what is possible in landscape stewardship and ecosystem restoration, and the organisation's responsibility is to match that with resources, trust, and care. That ethos runs through everything the Coordinator is expected to lead.

Beyond programme delivery, the role carries a resource mobilisation function. The Coordinator integrates youth priorities into funding proposals and donor partnerships, ensuring youth engagement is reflected in budgets rather than treated as an afterthought. They also represent GLF in strategic policy spaces, contribute to compliance with the YIL-CIFOR/GLF Memorandum of Understanding, and oversee MEAL of youth-related outcomes in partnership with the Community and Action Engagement Officer.

Key Responsibilities

The role's scope covers four functional clusters:

• Strategic Programme Leadership. Develop and implement the annual GLF Youth Programme Plan; design multi-year frameworks for meaningful youth integration across GLF workstreams; and test innovative approaches for scaling impact across regions, themes, and communities.

• Team and Partnership Management. Recruit, guide, and support a high-performing team of staff and consultants; build and sustain strategic partnerships with GLF Charter Members, the Landscape Alliance (CIFOR-ICRAF), and external youth organisations; represent GLF at global convenings and policy processes.

• Programme Delivery. Coordinate the Restoration Stewards fellowship; design youth-led activities for GLF events; co-develop capacity-sharing opportunities with the GLF Learning team; and co-produce knowledge with the YIL network and Restoration Stewards cohort.

• Operations and Resource Management. Oversee annual planning and budget management; mobilise financial and in-kind resources; ensure compliance with partnership agreements; and support monitoring, learning, and evaluation of youth-related outputs.

What GLF Is Looking For

GLF is explicit about the profile it wants. The minimum threshold sits at:

• A Master's degree in environmental studies, international development, climate science, or a closely related discipline

• At least three years of relevant experience in programme coordination, youth engagement, or sustainability-focused initiatives; preferably in international or multi-stakeholder environments

• Solid grounding in climate change, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity, and nature-based solutions, with familiarity in global environmental policy and youth participation frameworks

• Demonstrated experience with youth networks, participatory processes, and capacity development programming; including events, workshops, and co-creation methodologies

• A track record in stakeholder engagement and partnership coordination across NGOs, research institutions, donors, or cross-sector coalitions

The Landscape Alliance, which administers the role on behalf of GLF, actively encourages applications from qualified women professionals and is committed to building an inclusive, multicultural workplace. Cross-cultural communication skills and experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder environments are weighted heavily in the selection process.

Contract Details

The position is a full-time consultancy running from October 2026 to October 2027, with the possibility of renewal on the basis of performance evaluation. The role is fully remote and home-based. No physical relocation is required; the Coordinator can be based anywhere, which makes this genuinely accessible to practitioners across the Global South.

How to Apply

Applications go through the official GLF recruitment portal on the GLF community platform. Submit before the closing date.

Application deadline: 7 July 2026

Official application page: Click Here

If you're working in environmental youth engagement and want a role that connects community-level restoration work to COP negotiating rooms, this is one of the most well-resourced and institutionally credible positions currently on the market. The window is short. Get your application in well before 7 July.

For more jobs, consultancies, and opportunities across the humanitarian, development, and environmental sectors, stay with Community For Development.

GLF Is Hiring a Youth Program Coordinator: Lead Global Youth Engagement in Ecosystem Restoration

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